Improved gaff-sail



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE T. MAY, lOE ToMrKrNsviLLE, NEW YORK.

IMPROVED GAFFfSAIL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,944, dated July 22, 1862.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE T. May, of Tompkinsville, in the countyl of Richmond and State 0f New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Gaff-Sails; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marl-red thereon, making a part of this specification.

The nature ot' my improvement consists in forming the sail on a regular plan of related proportions,in place of the various irregularlyfornied oblong figures now seen in use, and in availing of these proportions to so iit the sail as to secure certain desirable results not otherwise obtainable with gaff'sails. From its particular adaptability to use on board of steamships I denominate my invention the Steamship Griff-Sail.

Figure l is a side view thereof. The sail, which is shown as full set, is composed of two equal parts-A the upper half, and B the lower half-the strain-rope c being sewed or otherwise affixed on the diagonal strain-band that extends in this sail clear across from its clew to its throat, the head d and the lui e being of equal length with each other, and the afterleechfand i'ootg being also of equal length with each other, though not necessarily upon exactly straight lines. This sail thus pro,- portioned may be either bent to the gaff with a lacing, as usual, or to hoops or rings running out and in uponit. The gaff, however, must have no long extension of the peak ,beyond the peak-cringle of the sail. The sail is represented in the figure as bent to the ga and seized to hoops upon the mast in the usual way. It may, however, be bent to ajack-stay on the mast, when deemed preferable to do so. The gaf at the throat is affixed to the mast, as shown in the enlargement Fig. 2. The peak is hoisted by peakshalyards, as usual, and when lowered, falling to leeward, cornes snugly in abaft the mast, thus reeing the sail to exactly half its full size. The lee-topping lift h being first overhanled out of the way by the overhauling-line 7c, the lee downhaul i, and the lee-brailsj and j bring the gatf close to the mast-hoops, when the peak-cringle coincides with the tack of the sail. If necessary in a storm, the reef may loe further secured by a lashing or by stops, or both, as also the at ter-leech may be stopped along the foot, if thought necessary, thus thoroughly duplicating the canvas for a storm'sail. The foot of the sail is represented as stopped to hoops or rings along t-he boom, and the after-leech as pierced with eyelet-holes at corresponding distauces for the accomplishment of this lastnamed object; but the use of these hoops or rings on thc boom may be dispensed with, as may also the boom itself, when so preferred. The clew goes to the boom end with an outhaul, as usual, and the sail is furled to the mast, on letting go this outhaul, by hrails on the weather or opposite side of the sail, corresponding to the lines maked i, j, audj on this side, two or three of the foot-stops of the sail being let go, if necessary so to do, in order to bring the sail snugly to the mast. If the sail be bent to run out and in on the gatf, it may be furled to the boom or on deck by letting go from the throat and hauling down.` Vangs to the gaff may be used or not, as desired, and guys to both boom and gaff, when necessary.

Fig. 2 is an enlargement of the throat of the sail and its surroundings, showing the position of the gaff when the sail is reefed. (Marked x.) c is the strain-rope, now doing duty with the duplicated canvas as a bolt-rope. It is attached to the mast by a short piece of chain, w, on each side from the throatcringle n, hooked, or may be otherwise fastened, as desired, to the mast at points in line, or nearly so, with the line of strainfroin clew to throat. The gaff is shown as affixed to the iron band z upon the mast, ou which is worked a strong and well-proportioned horizontal eye, wherein the iron gat'f eye y, equally strong and well proportioned, works freely, both horizontally and vertically, to the requisite extent. The functions of the gaff will, I believe, be better performed with these eyes than in any other way; but other plans may be adopted for both gaff and boom, if desired. Jaws may be retained to both, if preferred, by adopting the jointed jaws, now sometimes used, for the gait', suspending them with a short chain as slings, and taking care to protect the mast vfrom the chafe; or a collar working Von a sail to its place. Then the brail j', being drawn taut, will evidently bring the Whole sail to the mast as furled, though it might be necessary sometimes to secure it also by gas lets. Ordinarily, however, the clew only would need to be secured in this way. The topping-lift h is shown as overhauled clear of the sail.

The advantages that I claim for a sail of this description are as follows:

First. A longer gafi'is admissible than could he safely used with asal that is reefed in the ordiuary way, and consequently a greater spread of canvas is obtainable both in the gaff-sail itself and in the gaff-topsail from a given mast and boom for use in fine weather with this improvement.

Second. This large fainweather sail can be reefed` almost instantaneously to a storm-sail with but a very small amount of labor as compared with other sails, and when so reef'ed will .have just double the strength inthe canvas ol' an ordinary sail, will have its center of effort lower than that of any other sail what ever, and can for these reasons be carried longer as a storm-sail than any other could be, unless oi" very much smaller area.

Third. This sail can be arranged to furl either tothe mast or to the boom, as may be desired, or it may be used without a boom. In any case, the labor of'furling will be no more than with the same canvas in an ordinary fore-andaft sail, and generally would be less.

Fourth. Although this sail is specially despencer, or try-sail,dspensing with the boom or not, as may be desired.

Fifth. The set ofthe sail,whether full-set or reefed, will be at least as good as that ci other foreand-aft sails generally. The cost of sail and fittings will be about the same as that of a like amount of canvas in the ordinary gaffsails in nse.- It will do more work in line weather and in foul, and is more manageable than any other i'oreandalt sail known to me, and for use wherever it is not aprirne object to reduce and reset sail by line degrees, as on board of steamships, for the spankers and spencers of sailing-ships generally, and frequently for the mainsails of brigs and schooners. There is not, that I am aware of', any compensating drawback to these claimed advantages for my. invention; and the described improvement I do claim to be my invention, specilically.

I do not claim, broadly, for the use ol' a sail that can be reduced by lowering the peak of the gat'f to a line parallel with the mast or approximately so, as that is an old expedient, and gaffs are now in use with a joint at the jaws for the purpose of so reducing sail.

What Ido claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isl The application ofthe strain-rope c or ils equivalent diagonally from clew to throat of a gafflsail, as specified, in combination with a gaf-sailwhose head d and luft e are of equal length with each other, and whose after-leech f and footy are also of equal length with each other, 'so that when the upper half, A, is doubled down on either side, from the line of thestraiirrope c, upon the lower hah, B, the 

